This invention relates generally to off-road motor vehicles, such as tractors, and more particularly, to an engine hood enclosure for the tractor engine in which the hood is rearwardly pivotable and is latchable in an intermediate opened position and a fully opened position.
Tractors, particularly tractors used in an agricultural environment, are typically provided with a hood enclosure that has pivotable parts to provide access to the engine for service thereof. Generally, tractor hoods do not utilize engine hoods that pivotally move as an entire unit to provide access to the tractor engine; however, one piece hood configurations can be more economically produced.
In known engine hood configurations, access for daily maintenance components is attained merely by lifting or removing a side panel of the engine hood. Furthermore, raising the hood to fully expose the engine subjects the hood to wind forces, while daily maintenance, such as oil level checking, etc., can be accomplished without fully raising the hood relative to the engine. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a rearwardly pivotable engine hood for a tractor in which the hood is positionable in at least one intermediate position.
Economical manufacture of a one piece engine hood enclosure is a desirable goal. One piece polymer hoods have the advantage of being molded in an aesthetically pleasing shape; however, certain manufacturing processes require the hood to have substantially uniform material thicknesses to accomplish a high gloss exterior finish and minimize tooling costs. Accordingly, no bosses can be molded into the body of the hood to enable the fastening of mounting components, such as the hinge for pivotally mounting the hood to the chassis. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a hinge and a process for mounting the hinge to the body of the hood to facilitate the use of a one piece polymer tractor engine hood.
Similarly, the problem of latching the engine hood in a closed position is amplified by a hood configuration that requires compactness and does not provide mounting bosses on the under-surface of the hood. Furthermore, the latch mechanism must be adjustable to enable the mating latch components to interengage in the prescribed manner. The location for mounting the latch must be structurally sound and is preferably accessible from either side of the tractor. Likewise, the hinge mechanism must also be adjustable to enable a proper and desirable mating of the engine hood to the tractor chassis or other related component.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a one piece engine polymer hood for tractors, while providing solutions to the problems of pivotally mounting the hood, latching the hood and restricting the pivotal movement thereof.
The pivotal raising of a one piece hood requires the assistance of a spring assist mechanism to counterbalance the weight of the hood and facilitate the manual lifting of the hood. Gas springs can be utilized to offset the weight of the hood; however, gas springs often lose gradually the nitrogen gas from inside the spring. As a result, the force exerted by the spring lessens and causes the raising of the hood to become more difficult. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a mounting mechanism that could be adjustable to accommodate the changes in spring force and extend the operative life of the gas spring.